Lesson video

Hello, my name is Ms. Joret Jan.

I'm so excited to be learning with you today.

I will be guiding you through our lesson.

We're going to do some great learning together.

Let's get started.

Welcome to today's lesson from our unit called Climate zones: What are they and why do they matter? This lesson is called Adaptations of plants and animals in different biomes.

Your learning outcome will be to understand how plants and animals have adapted to live in different biomes.

Some of this learning is brand new, but I'm here to help you.

This links back to previous learning you might have done about cold places and hot places, as well as learning about the position of the earth and how this position affects climate.

You might have also thought about the relationship between lines of latitude, temperature, and climate zones, and you might have explored climate graphs and thought about what information they can tell us.

You might have also thought about the differences between climate zones and biomes.

I'm really excited to get started, I hope you are too.

Here are the key words that we will be using together throughout today's lesson.

Before we find out what these key words mean, let's practise saying them together.

Let's do my turn, your turn.

Biome.

Biome.

Adapt.

Adapt.

Interdependent.

Interdependent.

Environment.

Environment.

Good job everyone.

Let's find out what these keywords mean.

Biome, a biome is a large region of the world with places that have similar climates, vegetation and animals that have adapted to living there.

Adapt, adapt means to make changes to suit different conditions.

Interdependent.

Interdependent means two or more things depend or rely on each other.

Environment, an environment is all the living things in an area such as plants and animals and the non-living things around them such as air, water, and soil.

Well done everyone.

I want you to be using these keywords throughout our lesson as well.

Here are the learning cycles that we will be working through together in today's lesson.

First, we'll be thinking about how plants and animals adapt to the rainforest, and then we'll be thinking about how plants and animals adapt to the savannah.

Are you ready to start your learning for today? Fantastic, let's begin.

Tropical rainforests are home to over half of the world's plants and animal species.

Rainforests have layers of vegetation with many different plants and animals found in each layer.

Tropical rainforests are located in the Amazon region in South America, the Congo basin in Africa, and parts of southeast Asia.

Take a minute to explore this map showing us all the different biomes and see if you can locate those regions on the map.

So you're looking for the Amazon region, you are looking for the Congo basin and parts of southeast Asia.

You can use that key to help you as well.

You are looking to see if you can spot areas of tropical rainforests.

Pause the video and see if you can locate those places.

How did you get on? Did you locate the Amazon region here in South America? Well done if you did.

And then did you locate the Congo basin here in the continent of Africa? Good job, well done if you did.

And then this area here, parts of southeast Asia.

So all of these areas are where the tropical rainforests are located.

I wonder if you can think about which line of latitude they're located the closest to? Pause the video and see if you can identify which line of latitude they're closest to.

How did you get on? Did you say that these areas are located around the equator? Good job if you did.

Now I want you to think about what climate zone those areas are located in.

Pause the video and have a think.

How did you get on? Did you say that tropical rainforests are found in the equatorial climate zone? Good job if you did.

It's that area that's around the equator and you can see it highlighted as red on this map.

So remember we talked about areas of tropical rainforest being in the Amazon region in South America, the Congo basin in Africa, and then parts of southeast Asia.

So you can see on this map of our climate zones, it's the same areas that are represented in red.

So we can use the map showing us all the biomes of the world and this map showing us all of the climate zones of the world and put that information together to think really carefully about these tropical rainforest areas.

Places in the equatorial climate zone are hot and wet all year round.

The temperature does not usually rise or drop by more than a few degrees and there is rainfall throughout the year.

Now I've got two graphs here.

I wonder if you can identify which of these graphs looks at rainfall and which one looks at temperature.

It's a graph showing the climate of a place called Manaus in Brazil.

Pause the video and see if you can identify which graph is telling us about temperature and which one is telling us about rainfall.

How did you get on? Did you say that the graph on the left is showing us rainfall? Remember that rainfall is measured in millimetres and you can see that it's measured by the months of the year.

The height of the blue bars tells us how much rainfall fell in that particular month in millimetres.

I wonder if you can tell me in which month the most rain fell and in which month the least amounts of rain fell.

Pause the video and see if you can tell me.

How did you get on? Did you say that in the month of March the most amounts of rain fell and we can say that roughly it was 340 millimetres of rain that fell in March.

And then did you say that in August there was the least amount of rainfall, which looks about 60 millimetres of rain.

So well done if you were able to identify that.

Moving on to the next graph, did you say that this graph looks at temperature? Good job, well done if you did, and you can see that the temperature line is pretty straight and that shows us that this area in Manaus in Brazil has quite a constant temperature.

So well done if you were able to identify which of these graphs shows the rainfall and which one shows the temperature.

Remember that temperature is measured in degrees Celsius and rainfall is measured in millimetres.

It's time for a quick check here.

What line of latitude are the tropical rainforest biomes mostly located around? A, the arctic circle, B, the tropic of Capricorn, or C, the equator.

Pause the video and complete that check.

How did you get on? Did you say C? That's correct, the equator.

The tropical rainforest biomes are mostly located around the equator.

Good job everyone.

You can give yourself a thumbs up.

That's correct.

Plants have to adapt to survive in the rainforest.

The leaves of many rainforest plants have drip tips.

So you can see there that the raindrops are falling, they're dripping off those drip tips.

This adaptation helps them to shed water from the daily heavy downpours of rain.

So as all of that rain is coming onto the leaf, the shape of that leaf helps that rain drain away.

They're called drip tips.

Trees in the rainforest can grow over 60 metres tall.

That's as big as six houses high.

Those trees are really tall.

The tallest trees have buttress roots.

This is an adaptation that helps to support the trees and stop them from falling over.

So because the trees are so, so tall, remember we said they grow over 60 metres tall, all of that tree needs to be supported, otherwise the weight will mean that the tree topples over.

So that's why they have these thick buttress roots and that helps to support the weight of the tree and prevents it from falling over.

It's now time for a quick check here.

This picture shows an adaptation made by some plants in the rainforest environment.

Talk to a partner about this adaptation.

Do you remember what it's called? Do you remember what the adaptation helps the plant to do? How does this plant help it to survive in the tropical rainforest biome? Pause the video and complete that check.

How did you get on? Did you talk to your partner about how this adaptation can help plants to survive in the equatorial rainforest biome? Let's see some of the answers or things that you could have said.

These are drip tips.

They are features of the leaves of the rainforest plants.

So that identifies what this adaptation is called.

Now let's think about the function of the adaptation.

So why it's there and how it helps that plant to survive in the rainforest biome.

There is heavy rain every day, so the tips help the plant to shed water.

Remember that we said the plants have to get rid of that water.

They can't have all of that water sitting on their leaves.

So the drip tips help the water drain away.

Well done if you answered similarly to these children.

Good job if you thought really carefully about the drip tips and how they can help the plant survive in the rainforest biome.

It's now time to think about animals and their adaptations which help them survive in the rainforest biome.

Frogs like tree frogs live in rainforests.

They have very long strong legs and pads on their feet.

I wonder why they have strong legs and pads on their feet? Shall we find out? These adaptations help them to climb the tall rainforest trees.

Do you remember that we said that the trees can grow very tall in the rainforest? They can grow up to 60 metres high.

So these adaptations that the tree frog has helps them climb up to the tops of these tall trees.

The adaptations are strong legs, pads on their feet and their legs are very long.

Let's look at another animal here.

Sloths live high up in the branches of the rainforest trees.

They have long limbs and curved claws.

These adaptations help them to grab the branches and swing from them.

So you can see here that the sloth has those curved claws and the long limbs to help them grab branches and swing from tree to tree.

In the rainforest, plants and animals rely on each other.

They are interdependent.

When plants and animals rely on each other, it's called interdependence.

Animals make their homes in and around the forest and use it for food.

Plants rely on animals to provide nutrients and help them grow and spread their seeds, and that's because the animals eat the fruit or parts of the trees and then disperse their seeds.

So that shows you the cycle of how plants and animals rely on each other, how they are interdependent with each other.

That means that every living thing in the biome needs all the other living things to survive.

So if a plant species dies, it might mean that an animal has no food to eat, and it might also mean that that animal dies and then the nutrients that that animal would give back to the soil and the plants would be lost.

So it's the interdependence that means that all of these living things can survive in this biome.

It is time for a true or false check now.

So that means you've got to think really carefully about whether or not this statement is true or false.

There is no connection between the animals and plants in the rainforest.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and complete that check.

How did you get on? Did you say false? That's correct.

Now let's think about justifying our answer and explaining why it's false.

A, all of the plants and animals in the rainforest are interdependent.

Or B, some animals live high up in the tall trees in the rainforest environment.

Think about which of those statements proves that this sentence is false.

Pause the video now and complete that check.

How did you get on? Did you say A? All of the plants and animals in the rainforest are interdependent.

That's correct.

So there is a connection between plants and animals in the rainforest, and that word interdependent means that they all rely on each other.

Well done everyone.

Good job if you got that right, you can give yourselves another thumbs up.

This is fantastic learning so far today.

It's now time for task A.

What I would like you to do is to look at these two photos of the animals that we've talked about today, the sloth and the tree frog.

And I'd like you to add notes to the pictures of the tree frog and the sloth about how they adapt to survive in the rainforest environment.

Pause the video now and complete task A.

How did you get on with task A? Did you say that the sloth has long limbs for swinging? Did you say that they also have curved claws to grab branches? Did you say that the tree frog has sticky pads on their feet for grip? And then did you also say they have long, strong legs for strength and jumping? Remember, they've got to get to the tops of those really tall trees that can grow up to 60 metres tall.

Well done everyone if you thought really carefully about the adaptations that these animals have to help them survive in the rainforest environment.

You can give yourselves another thumbs up.

Now that we've thought about how plants and animals adapt to the rainforest, it's time to think about how plants and animals adapt to the savannah.

So we are looking at a different biome now.

The tropical savannah biome is mostly near the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.

If we look at our map here of all the different biomes, you can see that the tropical savannah biome is that colour that's light green.

There is a large area of savannah in Africa, which is called the Sahel, which borders the Sahara desert.

There you can see that some of the savannah regions are located on our map.

Savannas are located between the equatorial rainforest and desert climate zones.

Pause the video here and explore this map of all the different climate zones and see if you can locate the areas between the equatorial rainforest and desert climate zone where the savannah would be.

Good job everyone.

Well done if you did.

The Savannah climate is a tropical, wet and dry climate.

The temperature is fairly steady between 15 and 30 degrees throughout the year.

A long period of very dry weather is followed by a long period of rainfall.

Remember we talked about these graphs before and what they show us? In the previous example, we looked at Manaus in Brazil.

Now we're looking at Livingston, which is in Zambia.

Look at these two graphs and remind yourself which one is showing you rainfall and which one is showing you temperature.

Pause the video here.

How did you get on? Did you say that the graph on the left is showing rainfall and that the graph on the right is showing temperature? Well done if you were able to identify those graphs correctly.

If we look at the rainfall graph, we can see that a period between April and October is really dry because there's not much rainfall at all.

Remember that we measure rainfall in millimetres.

If we look at the period between November and March, you can see that that has more rainfall.

So that shows us that this climate is very wet and very dry.

So there are two quite different weather patterns there in one year.

Now if you look at temperature, we've already said that temperature is actually quite steady.

It's between 15 and 30 degrees throughout the year so it doesn't get too cold.

The cooler parts, the parts around 15 degrees do match up with the parts where there's less rainfall and the warmer parts of the year match up to months where there's more rainfall.

The Savannah biome has tall grasses, scattered trees, and many shrubs.

Animals like zebras, elephants, and giraffes live in savannas.

You can see there's a photo there of some elephants.

These animals and plants have adapted to survive in the hot savannah environment.

So just like we looked at the tree frog and the sloth for the rainforest biome, we're now going to look at how these animals have adapted to the savannah biome.

Let's have a quick check here.

The savannah biomes are usually closest to the A, equator, B, tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, or C, Arctic and Antarctic circles.

Pause the video and complete that check.

How did you get on? Did you say that savannah biomes are usually closest to the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn? Good job, well done if you did, you can give yourselves a thumbs up.

Baobab trees are scattered across tropical savannas.

They soak up water from deep underground and store it in their thick wide trunks.

This adaptation helps the trees to survive extreme temperatures and lack of water.

Times when there's a lack of water is called a drought.

So you can see how this tree has adapted to its environment.

Remember we saw that there was a period of a few months where there wasn't any rainfall at all, but the temperatures were still quite high? That's when the baobab tree uses all of that stored water to help it survive in this environment.

Savannas are covered in many varieties of grasses.

Most grass species are tall and have adapted to grow very quickly when it rains.

They hardly grow at all when it's dry.

This adaptation helps the grasses survive all year round.

So they save their energy when it's dry and then they use more energy and they grow really tall when there's more rain and that helps them to survive in this environment.

It is time for a quick check here.

Talk to your partner about the adaptations grasses have and how they help them to survive in the tropical savannah biome.

Pause the video and complete that check.

How did you get on? Did you say savannah grasses can grow very tall, very quickly when it's the rainy season? That's right, and when it is the dry season, they're dormant, so they survive all year round.

And that helps the plant to survive in this environment.

Well done if you said something similar.

It's now time to think about the animals that live in the Savannah biome and think about their adaptations which help them to survive.

Savannah environments are very hot.

Animals can't survive unless they find a way to adapt and keep cool.

Some animals like elephants have very large ears that they can flap about and use for shade.

This adaptation helps to stop them from overheating.

So you can see there that the animal that we are talking about is an elephant and it's got those very large ears, which helps them to cool down when it's quite hot.

Food is scarce in the savannah biome, so animals adapt in many ways to help them find and eat food.

The rhinoceros grazes on the tall grasses of the savanna and has a big wide jaw so they can consume as much grass as possible.

So that's how the rhinoceros has adapted to surviving in this savannah biome.

It's got a very wide jaw that helps it to eat all of those grasses.

Just as in the tropical rainforest, plants and animals of the savannah rely on each other.

Do you remember what that word is called? Pause the video and talk to your partner.

How did you get on thinking about that word that shows us that plants and animals rely on each other? Did you say that they are interdependent? Well done if you did.

This is true in every biome all around the world, no matter what biome or climate zone they are in.

Plants and animals that live together and share the same environment are interdependent.

They rely on each other to survive.

Trees in the savannah provide shade and protection for animals.

But if there were no trees, animals would have no shelter.

And if there were no animals, those trees wouldn't have the nutrients to help them grow and their seeds would not be dispersed.

Have a look at this photo.

Talk with your partner and think about how this photograph shows the interdependence of plants and animals in the tropical savannah biome.

Pause the video and complete that check.

How did you get on? Did you say that elephants are sheltering underneath the baobab tree for shade? Did you say elephants are eating grasses? So are some zebra in the background.

And did you say that animal waste provide nutrients in the soil and that's what helps the trees grow? Good job, well done if you did.

You've thought really carefully there about the interdependence between plants and animals in the savannah biome.

It's now time for task B.

Choose one of the major world biomes.

Do some research to find out about the animals and plants found there and how they are interdependent.

Think carefully about how you will do your research.

You might choose to use the internet to look at reliable websites, watch a documentary programme or video clip, or listen to a podcast.

Or you might read a specialist book or magazine.

Pause the video and complete task B.

How did you get on with task B? Here's what one pupil decided to do.

I decided to use the internet to research the temperate deciduous forest biome.

The UK has this biome.

I made a list of questions I wanted to know and then I looked for the answers.

I researched animals that live in the biome and the plants that live there.

Grey squirrels and foxes live in these forests.

Oak trees and silver birch grow here.

Squirrels eat acorns from oak trees.

They are interdependent.

Well done if you did something similar that was really tricky learning and it asked you to do lots of independent research, and I'm sure it also helped you to think about the adaptations of plants and animals in different biomes and think about their interdependence.

Well done, everyone we've come to the end of our lesson.

It's now time to go through a quick summary of all of the learning that we've completed together today.

In each biome, the animals and plants that are found there are interdependent.

They rely on each other for survival.

Animals, plants adapt to their environment to help them to survive in the climatic conditions.

In the equatorial rainforest, plants adapt by having drip tips and buttress roots.

Rainforest animals like tree frogs can climb up trees thanks to its strong legs.

In the hot tropical savannah adaptations include how baobab trees store water in their thick trunks and camels have humps that store fat, water and nutrients.

Well done everyone.

You've been fantastic today.

You can give yourselves one last thumbs up.

That's great learning.

Thank you for sharing your learning with me, and I'll see you really soon for more Geography lessons.

Bye.